AEG Announces Front Office Changes for the LA
Kings

Luc Robitaille Has Been Promoted to President of Kings and Rob Blake
Has Been Promoted to Vice President and General Manager;

Dean Lombardi and Darryl Sutter Relieved of Current Duties

April 10, 2017 08:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AEG,the world's leading sports and live entertainment
company, has announced the following changes to the front office of the
LA Kings hockey club. Luc Robitaille has been named club
President and will now oversee all hockey and business operations, and Rob
Blake has been named Vice President and General Manager and will
direct all day-to-day hockey operations for the organization.

The announcement of both promotions was made by Dan Beckerman,
President and CEO of AEG, the parent company of the LA Kings.

In addition, Beckerman today announced Dean Lombardi, who has
served as Kings President and General Manager since 2006, and Darryl
Sutter, who has served as the club’s Head Coach since 2011, have
been relieved of their current duties.

The Kings are scheduled to host a news conference tomorrow, Tuesday,
at STAPLES Center in the Chick Hearn Press Room.It is scheduled
to begin at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live at LAKings.com.Kings
season media and photo credentials will allow access into STAPLES Center
for tomorrow’s press event, which is scheduled to feature Beckerman,
Robitaille and Blake.

“This was an extremely difficult decision and was made with an enormous
amount of consideration for what we have accomplished in our past. But
the present and future of our organization is the highest priority,”
said Beckerman. “Words cannot express our gratitude and appreciation for
what Dean and Darryl have accomplished for the Kings franchise. They
built this team and helped lead us to two Stanley Cup Championships and
will forever be remembered as all-time greats in Kings history. But with
that level of accomplishment comes high expectations and we have not met
those expectations for the last three seasons. With the core players we
have in place, we should be contending each year for the Stanley Cup.
Our failure to meet these goals has led us to this change.”

Robitaille, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, has served as Kings
President, Business Operations the last 10 years. The highest scoring
left wing in NHL history, under Robitaille’s leadership the Kings have
had a tremendous overall impact on the Kings Business Operations
department – revenue has doubled – including the areas of Sponsorship
Sales and Renewal, Fan and Customer Relations, Game Entertainment, Media
Relations and Broadcasting. Since 2007-08, the Kings have increased or
maintained their number of sellouts at STAPLES Center each full season,
and the team concluded the 2016-17 season with a sellout streak of 213
consecutive regular season games and 246 consecutive contests overall
(both team records). Under Robitaille the Kings were named the Sports
Team of the Year at the Sports Business Journal’s Sports Business Awards
event in 2015.

In 19 seasons as an NHL player, including 14 with the Kings, Robitaille
– the all-time Kings leader in goals scored (557) and a former Kings
captain – recorded 1394 points (668-726=1394) and won a Stanley Cup with
the Red Wings in 2002. His jersey was retired by the Kings in 2007.

Blake, who is also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, becomes the
ninth general manager in team history. He was named to his most recent
role of Vice President/Assistant General Manager in 2013 and has held
the position for the last four seasons. Prior to that, Blake, a former
Kings captain, worked in the National Hockey League’s Player Safety
department for three years.

During his time as an executive with the team, Blake has also served as
the general manager of the Kings’ primary minor league affiliate, the
Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League (that franchise won the
Calder Cup in Championship in 2015). In addition, Blake served as
General Manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team for the 2014 IIHF Ice
Hockey World Championship, and he worked on the Management Staff for
Team Canada’s entry in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

In 20 seasons as an NHL player, including 14 with the Kings, Blake
recorded 777 points (240-537=777) and he won a Stanley Cup with the
Avalanche in 2001. He was in his front office role with the Kings when
the Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2014 and he had his jersey retired by
the Kings in 2015.

“This restructuring of the front office will establish a single leader
of the organization that will provide a unified vision, focus and
alignment between the team side and the business side,” said Beckerman.
“It mirrors the same structure we recently implemented with the LA
Galaxy and it will not only enable the integration of these two sides of
the club into a single organization but will bring symmetry between the
Kings and Galaxy.”

Lombardi was hired by the Kings on April 21, 2006. His overall regular
season record as the club’s general manager is 425-339-104 over 868
games (the games and wins are most among Kings general managers
all-time; his 11-year tenure is the longest as well) and in the playoffs
the Kings were 46-35. Lombardi and his executive staffs were
instrumental in the Kings winning the Stanley Cup in both 2012 and 2014.

Sutter was hired by the Kings on December 20, 2011. His overall record
as the club’s head coach is 225-147-53 over 425 games in the regular
season (the wins are most among Kings head coaches all-time and the
games coached is second all-time) and in the playoffs the Kings were
42-27 (the 42 wins is also a franchise record). Sutter and his coaching
staffs played pivotal roles in the Kings winning the two Stanley Cups.